


Hero

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-13
Updated: 2013-06-13
Packaged: 2017-12-14 21:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/841393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Dave tries to avoid thinking about Bro's death</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hero

Your teen dad-bro is not your Bro. Your teen dad-bro is not your Bro. Your teen dad-bro is not your Bro.

It’s not a hard concept to grasp. It’s like the doomed Daves all over your timeline. They’re not you, even though they’re technically genetically identical. Teen dad-bro has even less in common with your Bro.

You think Rose is having a hard time getting that. You’re just as curious to meet them as she is, but she seems to think that girl you saw in a dream bubble is her mom. It’s not. That guy wasn’t your Bro either. You’ll never see your Bro again.

But you’ve got to admit when you meet him properly, Dirk is…similar. He’s got the same attitude and sense of humor, same interests as far as you can tell, same rapping style. Even the way he speaks is close. You’re surprised by just how alike they are.

Not that you have anything against Dirk, but you find it hard to spend time around him. You’ve got no intention to make things any harder on yourself either. That is, until you’re going about your business, and you hear your name coming from a room you’re passing.

“…why Dave’s avoiding me?”

You pause right in your tracks. Apparently, another thing Dirk has in common with your Bro is they can both read you like a stupid book. Either that or you’re not as subtle as you thought.

“Have you been trying to fight with him?” That must be Rose. You begin moving closer to the doorway, careful not to let your footsteps make any noise.

“What? No.” He pauses, and so do you in case he heard you. “Are you saying he’s trying to pull some kind of sneak attack or something?”

Rose hums as she considers it. “Not likely. The constant interruptions to fight on the roof got on his nerves half the time.” As you reach the doorway, you can hear the soft clicking of her needles as she knits.

You’re surprised to hear a third voice chime in then – although you shouldn’t be. Of course Roxy is there with Rose. “So, they didn’t get along in your universe?”

“They had their ups and downs. It seemed like a pretty complicated relationship.” You lean carefully against the wall to listen more comfortably. “Then Jack Noir came along and killed him.”

A soft noise of understanding comes from Roxy, and you can imagine Dirk giving a single nod. “So he died fighting?” he asks.

“Yes.” Rose seems unable to bring herself to say more. You hear her needles click together again.

“Like my bro.” Nobody knows what to say to that. You didn’t even know that. Nobody has to say anything though. “I was looking forward to meeting him. I always admired him, you know?” That one stings. You realize Dirk didn’t see as much difference between you and his bro as you thought.

There’s another heavy pause where you try hard to stay quiet. Rose asks softly, “What was he like?” giving Dirk permission to continue.

“Pretty mysterious, I guess. I never found out too much about him.” Just like your Bro, then. “He was famous for the Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff franchise, though. The movies were fucking masterpieces.”

The one glaring contrast you’ve noticed between Dirk and your Bro, at least in terms of personality, is that Dirk isn’t nearly as good at concealing his emotions as he thinks he is. You can tell as he starts talking about all the crazy merchandising shit and the clever satire in the later movies that Dirk legitimately loves them.

Whenever your Bro called your comics masterpieces, you always thought he was being sarcastic.

Bro and Dirk aren’t the same. Bro and Dirk are not the same. But Dirk’s bro sounds a hell of a lot like you. Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff isn’t something just anyone could come up with anyway. And doesn’t Dirk love him, as much as you can love someone you’ve never actually met?

You shake your head at yourself. Love is much too strong of a word. You don’t think your Bro ever loved you. You don’t even think you really loved your Bro.

“He was kind of a hero to me,” Dirk says. Yeah. Your Bro was a hero to you too. That’s the word you were looking for. You looked up to him, and you just tried to make him proud.

You have to remind yourself that Dirk’s bro was his hero. Not you. “I just thought it would be nice to get to know him, you know? Even if Dave isn’t the version of my Bro I’m used to, I just wanted to know what he was like.”

Roxy chimes in again. “They might be more alike than you think though.” Rose’s needles stop clicking. You think she probably gave Roxy one of her looks. “Well, you’re not exactly my mom, but you’re so much like her that you basically actually are.”

“Well, John and Jade have said that Jane and Jane are pretty much their respective grandparents. I guess you have a point there.”

“And Dave is exactly as enigmatic as my Bro was, so hey.”

Enigmatic? Really?  You wrinkle your forehead at that. But does Dirk really think you’re pretty much the same guy as his Bro?

Maybe you’re the one that had this alternate universe stuff wrong.

“I thought you were the more enigmatic one,” Rose muses.

Roxy snorts. “Nah, he’s just a dumb guy that likes cage fights and ponies.”

“I prefer puppets to ponies and swordsmanship to cage fighting, thank you.”

Yeah, sounds a lot like your Bro.

“You forgot building killer robots for your boyfriend.”

“Oh my god, that was one time.” You can tell he’s joking. He only ever uses that tone when he’s joking. “No, honestly, I didn’t mean for the Brobot to be so brutal. I only wanted Jake to be a better fighter for the game.”

“That sounds exactly like something Dave’s Bro would do,” Rose says. You catch yourself nodding before you fully realize what that means. Dirk and Bro both apparently tried to train people they cared about. Apparently, the harder the training, the more love there was behind it.

Holy shit, Bro must have really cared about you. You squirm as you realize you’ve kind of been treating Dirk like utter crap, and he cares so much.

“So, Dave’s Bro built robots too?”

Rose pauses, and you imagine her squinting as she considers the question. “I don't remember him saying anything about that.”

Maybe this would be an awesome opportunity to get in there and talk to Dirk about your Bro. Yeah, you think so. Deciding quickly, you grab the wall and lean around into the doorway, trying to look like you were just passing. “Nah, he didn’t. He was too busy with those st – Smuppets.” (It would probably be best if you didn’t insult Dirk’s interests as you tried to right your wrongs.)

All three of them jump a little at your reply. You smirk – it really doesn’t suit Dirk. You think he’s about to ask how long you’ve been there, but instead he asks, “Smuppets?”

You enter the room proper and take a seat. As Roxy and Rose make their excuses to leave, you think you’re in for a long conversation.

With your teen dad-bro.

Who is, for all intents and purposes, your Bro.


End file.
